


Five days, eleven hours

by kamicchis



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Data Pair, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, Separation Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-23 05:17:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18147596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamicchis/pseuds/kamicchis
Summary: Inui can’t help but count the days that he and Yanagi have been apart.





	Five days, eleven hours

**Author's Note:**

> I've been in this fandom for like ten years but this is the first time I've ever written a fic for it. Data Pair gives me feelings.

“Sadaharu, it’s late,” immediately came Yanagi’s voice on the other side of the phone, straightforward as always. “Is everything alright?”

 

“It’s only quarter after five.” Inui answered. 

 

“But it’s past two in the morning for you,” Yanagi pressed. “Why on earth are you awake?”

 

Inui couldn’t respond for a moment. Yanagi was right, and had caught him without a justifiable reason. Inui  _ always _ had a reason for everything he did. He was left quickly sorting through potential excuses he could use as to why he had called so abruptly. 

 

“It’s been a while.” Inui responded bleakly. 

 

“We talked earlier today.” Yanagi reminded him, voice surprisingly gentle. 

 

A brief silence hung between them.

 

“You’re home from work now, I assume?” Yanagi asked suddenly, and Inui sighed in relief. He appreciated that Yanagi dropped the topic. For _ now _ . He always did when he could sense there was something wrong. 

 

“Yes, I got home a few hours ago.” Inui recalled. A medical internship could hardly be called work, given the lack of salary. Inui was in his fourth year, and the exhaustion was catching up to him. 

 

Which made it all the more bizarre for Inui to be calling this late. Normally, he dive bombed into bed the moment he got home. Sometimes even with his shoes still on, much to Yanagi’s dismay, who was usually left attempting to pry them off his feet without waking him. Usually, he could get at least one of them off. 

 

“Late night.” Yanagi commented, remaining silent for a long moment. He then pressed again: “Sadaharu, did something happen?”

 

“Not really.” Inui said. “Nearly all my clients cancelled. I filed paperwork all day. I can hear the numbers.”

 

Yanagi’s gentle laugh made Inui smile. 

 

“Much the same over here. The letters start to run off the page after a while.” Yanagi chuckled. There was an odd pause; something as uncharacteristic to Yanagi as it was to Inui. “It’s been difficult over here.” 

 

“Don’t push yourself — ”

 

“Without you.” Yanagi interrupted, and Inui blinked. “It’s been difficult without  _ you _ .” 

 

“Soon.” Inui swallowed thickly. “You’ll be home soon.” Coherent sentences were suddenly difficult as Inui thought about Yanagi’s arrival home. Although he was terribly excited to see him again, it’s a thought he’d been avoiding. He glanced to the clock to confirm, then murmured: “Five days, eleven hours.” 

 

“Sadaharu.” 

 

“Then  I—” 

 

“ _ Sadaharu _ .” Yanagi warned. 

 

Inui took a deep breath.

 

“Don’t tell me you’re keeping track.” 

 

This shouldn’t be a surprise to Yanagi, especially given how often they were apart due to their respective jobs, but there was always the hope that both of them had that perhaps Inui would break his terrible habit. 

 

Inui couldn’t help but count the days that he and Yanagi have been apart. Ever since those four years, two months and fifteen days of not quite heartbreak. The raw, unpleasant feeling that tickled his throat and dropped deep down into the pit of his stomach whenever he stumbled across their childhood photos.

 

They had long since made up, of course. It was nothing more than a faded scar on their relationship. 

 

But it was a feeling he would never forget.

 

“I can’t help it.” Inui mumbled. He dragged his index finger across his phone screen laying on the pillow beside him, tracing the kanji of Yanagi’s name. Renji. 

 

“Have I ever been home a day later than I promised?” Yanagi pressed.

 

“That time your flight was delayed?” Inui offered. 

 

“Doesn’t count.”

 

Inui smiled. 

 

“Then no.” 

 

“Exactly.” Inui could hear the smile in Yanagi’s voice also. “Is that what was bothering you?”

 

Inui stared at the illuminated phone screen for a moment, and the kanji of Yanagi’s name. “Not particularly.”

 

“And that’s Sadaharu for ‘Yes.’” Yanagi murmured. His tone wasn’t harsh or accusatory, it never was. Not when Inui’s separation anxiety was involved. He was uncharacteristically gentle, and this was the only time Inui had ever heard him speak in such a manner. 

 

“As far as I’m aware, there should be no flight delays.” He reassured him. “And I promise you there’s nothing keeping me attached to London, this research project be damned.” Yanagi’s voice turned dry. “I’d much rather be home, pulling off your revolting shoes at three in the morning.” 

 

Inui actually laughed. 

 

“Among other things.” Yanagi suggested, but went on. “But I assume I’ll need to stop at the grocery store on the trip back from the airport first?”

 

“We have condiments.” Inui offered. “And some juice. Also a quarter of a jar of pickles, if I recall correctly.” 

 

“Pickles?” came Yanagi’s voice, clearly judgmental.

 

“Pickles.” 

 

“Sadaharu, I’m begging you to look at that recipe book I left for you.” Yanagi said. “They’re easy, simple for even the most incompetent of cooks.”

 

“Oh, I did.” Inui assured him. “I made an egg just as you suggested.”

 

“You...  _ made _ an egg.” Yanagi repeated. 

 

“Yes. I fried it.”

 

“And?” Yanagi asked with slight hesitation. 

 

“I couldn’t get it out of the pan.” Inui recalled. The strange, dark brown colour was still vivid in his memory. “It was stuck, so I just added the rice into the pan and ate it like that.” 

 

“Did you flip it?” 

 

“No.”

 

“Sadaharu!” Yanagi sounded absolutely scandalized. 

 

“It tasted fine!” 

 

It really, really didn’t, but he wouldn’t admit that.

 

Yanagi sighed. “You’re so helpless in the kitchen. I leave for two weeks and _ this _ .”

 

“I’ll stick to the pickles.” Inui agreed. 

 

Yanagi laughed. Talking to him so casually like this made him feel better. Inui closed his eyes with a sigh, pulling up the duvet that seemed vast and endless without the shape of Yanagi laying beside him.

 

Inui assumed that Yanagi could hear the rustling of the blankets, as his concerned voice came soon after. “You should get some sleep, Sadaharu.”  

 

“Are you at your hotel?” Inui asked gently. 

 

“Mm.”  Yanagi confirmed. “I’m done with work early. I was just reading before you called.” 

 

“Stay on the line, Renji.” He suggested softly, pulling his glasses off and placing them on the pillow beside him. That pillow was normally Inui’s, but when Yanagi was gone, Inui slept on his instead. “I know white noise helps you with your readings.”

 

“Okay.” Yanagi, surprisingly, gave in without much prying. Usually, he didn’t see the point in wasting minutes on their shared cellular plan for such a sentimental reason. Inui didn’t either. Usually. “For an hour?”

 

“An hour.” Inui agreed.

 

Hearing the flip of the pages of Yanagi’s book help lulled him to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Groceries be  _ damned. _

 

Five days and eleven hours had passed. 

 

This always happened. Whenever either of them, usually Yanagi, arrived home after weeks (or sometimes even just days) of being apart, they wrapped together and pressed to the nearest possible surface. 

 

“Renji.” Inui breathed, his lips capturing Yanagi’s repeatedly. Over and over again, he inhaled his breath as if it was his own. Their lips were sewn together, Inui’s fingers clumsily yanking at the buttons of Yanagi’s cardigan. “ _ Renji. _ ” He repeated, the cotton fabric sliding down his shoulders and discarding to the floor. Inui’s hands were shaky. Yanagi was here, he was in his arms, he was kissing him. 

 

He was here. 

 

_ Renji was here, _ with him. 

 

Where he always would return, without a doubt in the world. 

 

Inui made a mental note to cover up the calendar the next time Yanagi left. 


End file.
